by J. J. Green
Whatever the reason was for Dirksens to be lurking there, Carina guessed she might soon find out. Once more, her powers had placed her in a dangerous position. After witnessing what had happened to her mother after her abilities were discovered, Carina was prepared to fight to the death to avoid the same fate.
She waited tensely for what seemed an age before the door to her holding cell finally opened. This time, she didn’t see the dark-eyed Dirksen officer. Two guards had arrived. One of them unfastened her ankle restraints and pulled her roughly to her feet. He grabbed her upper arm and pushed her forward. A hard metal edge was pushed into her head from behind. It was the muzzle of the other guard’s gun.
“I understand, you know, language,” said Carina as they forced her through the cell doorway. Her remark earned her a knock on her skull from the muzzle. It wasn’t hard enough to daze her but she felt a trickle of blood run down her neck. Before another smart remark could slip out, Carina bit her tongue. Bravado wasn’t going to help her escape and it didn’t ease her tension either.
As the guard’s hand fastened tightly around her bicep, he urged her along a corridor so fast she was almost running. The vessel was, as she’d guessed, a modestly sized military craft. The interior was bare, featureless metal, and she could hear the tramp of booted feet. She was probably inside a patrol ship, she concluded. The Dirksens had been surveying the system for unscheduled arrivals of suspicious spacecraft. The stolen Sherrerr shuttle had been an obvious target.
A bright light shone ahead, and as they rounded a corner Carina saw that it was daylight. They’d arrived at an exit ramp that led out onto the planet surface. The patrol ship was even smaller than she’d thought. Few space worthy ships could land and take off through a planet’s atmosphere. Carina must have paused in surprise because the guard grunted, “Move,” and pushed her down the ramp.
Carina caught a glimpse of a spaceport and a city before she was forced into the back of a ground transport. The door slammed, leaving her in total darkness on the floor of the vehicle. It lifted off the ground and then accelerated fast. Carina had been half-crouching. The sudden movement made her stumble. Her wrists remained tied, preventing her from saving herself. She hit the floor.
She was about to sit up when an idea occurred to her. It was a long shot but worth trying. Though she couldn’t see a thing, she remembered where the door was. Lying on her back, she lifted both her legs and drove them hard against it. The door held firm, however.
Having nothing better to do as the journey progressed, Carina kicked the door again and again until a voice from the front of the vehicle growled, “Cut it out or I’ll come back there and stun you.”
Carina gave the door a final, defiant kick but then lay still, panting with exertion. She was uncomfortable lying on her tied arms so she turned onto her front. Where was she being taken? What Dirksen figure of importance was she about to meet? Would he be like Stefan Sherrerr, more monster than human being? What would the Dirksens do to her when they attempted to force her to reveal her mage powers?
She knew only one thing for sure: she would never admit to her ability to Cast. The minute she did that, her life would be over. The Dirksens would never rest until they compelled her to do what they wanted, by whatever means necessary. She recalled the time Stefan Sherrerr had forced her to raise a tidal wave against Dirksen troops, killing who knew how many of them. A clean fight was different. Mage powers were not supposed to be destructive.
Carina refused to live a life of shame and dishonor.
While waiting for the journey to end, she tried to recall what she’d seen of the city outside the spaceport before she’d been pushed into the transport. The metropolis had looked surprisingly high tech for a backwater place. Carina’s home planet had also been in the middle of nowhere and life there had barely been above subsistence level. Other out-of-the-way locations she’d visited when working as a merc had been similar. Even the Sherrerr stronghold, Ithiya, had been provincial. She’d heard of highly developed places toward the center of the galactic sector, but she hadn’t ever visited one.
Her glimpse of the cityscape had revealed tall blocks in many complex designs. Some had been decorated with vegetation and walkways linked the sections. She’d also seen small private transports flying between the blocks.
The vehicle turned a corner quickly, throwing Carina across the floor, and then it halted. A door at the front opened and slammed. The one she’d been kicking also opened. Carina looked past her feet, squinting in the sudden light. A burly man stood outside. She guessed he was the owner of the growly voice. Beyond him hovered an expensively dressed woman. Her expression reminded Carina of a type of bug she used to keep as a child. The beady-eyed insects had always been ready to pounce on whatever prey happened by, and the woman looked the same. Carina didn’t relish the idea of being her prey.
The burly man reached in and grabbed her tied wrists before pulling her out of the vehicle in one smooth motion. She landed on her knees on the dusty ground and blinked in the piercing sunlight.
“Now then, Harmon,” the woman said. “Not so rough, please. Help the girl up.”
Harmon gripped Carina’s elbow and pulled her to her feet. They were under a wide awning outside a large residence. The city she’d seen at the spaceport had gone. The house seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, in fact, Carina was disheartened. If she managed to escape, she would have plenty of country to cross to reach an urban area.
“Come inside, dear,” the woman said. “I do hope the guards haven’t treated you too badly. They can be overzealous at times.” She turned toward the entrance but then glanced back and said, “Remove her restraints, Harmon. How ridiculous.”
Carina blinked again, though this time it wasn’t due to the bright sunlight. The reception she was receiving wasn’t at all what she’d expected. Harmon unfastened her wrist ties and, now that his mistress’ back was turned, shoved Carina toward the door.
After another glance around her—and noting that she wouldn’t get five meters before Harmon could stun her—Carina followed the bug-like woman into the mansion. Harmon remained one step behind her all the way to a lounge, where the woman invited Carina to sit. He hovered at her side until he was ordered, rather shrilly, to step back and “give the poor girl room to breathe.”
“You must be exhausted,” the woman continued. “I’ll order some refreshments then Harmon will show you up to your apartment. I insist that you rest a while, for as long as you need. We can talk business later.”
Carina was beginning to wonder if she was unconscious and dreaming. Perhaps she hadn’t come around yet from being stunned on the Sherrerr shuttle. Perhaps the dark-eyed officer didn’t exist. Or maybe she was still asleep on the Dirksen patrol ship.
“You seem confused,” said the woman. “That’s entirely understandable. Let me introduce myself. I am Langley Dirksen.”
Perhaps Carina wasn’t going mad after all.
“And it’s my intention to make your life as comfortable as possible.”
On the other hand…
Langley Dirksen lifted a comm to her lips and spoke softly, ordering food and drinks. When she finished she looked up at Carina and said, “And you are…?”
Carina was so taken aback at the situation, she almost gave her name as a reflex. But instead she clamped her lips shut.
“Of course,” Langley Dirksen said, “I understand.” Her tone carried a hint of iciness that betrayed the politeness of her words. She folded her hands in her lap, resting them on the fine, pale-green, silky fabric of her dress. After a moment, she said, “Well, this is awkward, isn’t it? I hope that we can be friendlier over the coming days. I’m sure we will be. Oh, here we are.”
A maid trolley had arrived carrying snacks and glasses of drink. It trundled to Carina first. While she was tempted to kick the thing over and make a run for it, she knew that was pointless. Besides, she was famished and thirsty. She seized several plates, piling them on her lap before grabb
ing two full glasses. After downing one glass of a syrupy but refreshing juice, she bit into a pink confection and swallowed it in two mouthfuls.
Carina was dimly aware of Langley’s gaze upon her. The Dirksen woman probably disapproved of her lack of manners, but then from the look of her Langley hadn’t ever starved. Carina wasted little time with concerns about what impression she gave. After quickly finishing the snacks on her lap, she retrieved the remaining ones from the trolley. Carina wasn’t waiting for Langley to help herself. She’d had her chance.
The snacks were light and not intended to supply much energy, Carina guessed. Then she abruptly stopped eating. What if the food was drugged?
“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” she asked Langley.
“I’m not hungry,” Langley replied, looking gratified that Carina had finally spoken.
“Eat something,” said Carina. “Or make him.” She looked at Harmon, who still hung around like a bad smell.
Langley sighed. “Harmon, have a snack.”
Harmon reached into the trolley and picked out a pale yellow cake in the shape of a flower. He popped the entire thing into his mouth and chewed solemnly. After observing him, Carina proceeded to eat the rest of the snacks. When she’d finished, she burped.
“Well, you certainly were hungry, weren’t you?” said Langley.
Carina drank her second drink and returned the empty glass to the trolley. “I don’t know why you’ve brought me here, but I take it if I try to leave, Harmon might have something to say about it.”
“He might indeed, and so may the many other Harmons who patrol my estate. But we’re starting off on the wrong foot. As I see it, there’s no need for us to be on opposite sides. We can have a mutually beneficial relationship.”
“If that’s the case,” Carina replied, “I suggest that, as a gesture of good faith, you allow me the freedom to leave.”
“Hmm… Not just yet. You’re tired and you’ve been treated badly no doubt by those military types who picked you up. Please, rest for a while. When you’ve recovered, we can talk business. Harmon, show our friend to her apartment.”
Carina didn’t have much choice except to do as Langley Dirksen directed at that moment, though she distrusted the woman’s fine words. Even if Langley’s intentions were currently noble and she really did want to strike up a fair deal in exchange for Carina using her mage powers—which Carina doubted—the woman’s attitude would soon change. That was what knowledge of a mage’s abilities did to people. It turned them into envious, exploitative, evil monsters like Stefan Sherrerr.
Whatever good treatment she received, Carina would never admit that she was a mage. And when Langley Dirksen finally realized she wasn’t going to get anything out of Carina, her reaction would show just how well-intentioned she really was.
Meanwhile, Carina worried what would happen to Parthenia and the others. How were they going to survive? She hoped they would have the sense to never let anyone know they could Cast.
Chapter Three
“Can we Cast Transport to bring us some food?” Darius asked.
He’d asked the same question twice already, but Parthenia guessed her little brother didn’t remember. She couldn’t expect a six year old to have a good memory. And he was probably as hungry as she was, if not hungrier, and very tired. “Well, we don’t have any elixir, and we would need to see the food, or at least know exactly where it was. You know that. And it would be stealing.”
She pushed aside a low branch of a tree that stood in their way and let Darius go ahead of her. They were following some kind of track through the forest. She wasn’t sure what had made the track, but she hoped it was human.
“Would it be stealing?”
“Yes, it would because it would be taking something that doesn’t belong to us. I know that when we went into town the store owners would let us take whatever we wanted, but that was because Father made them. Most people can’t do that. Most people have to pay for food with money. We don’t have any money.”
“Oh. How do we get money?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe we can work. That’s how most people get money.” The truth was, Parthenia didn’t know what they were going to do. Somehow, they would have to make a new life and it would very different from the one they’d been used to. She didn’t even know how to begin. All she knew was that the first step was to reunite with their mage siblings since Carina had been forced to Transport them all separately from the shuttle to the planet surface. They had to find each other again.
She’d been waiting for hours to hear from Carina or perhaps Ferne or Oriana. She’d given one of her bracelets to her older sister and another to her twin siblings. They should be able to use a bracelet of hers to Locate her and then Send a message. Then they could all meet up and together they could decide what to do. She guessed that Oriana and Ferne were having the same difficulty as her with creating elixir in the middle of nowhere, but Carina was resourceful and smart. She would have made contact sooner.
Darius hadn’t spoken for a while, which was unusual. He was looking worried. She gripped her youngest brother’s hand tighter. “Don’t fret. Carina will Cast Send soon. I’m sure she will. Until then, we’ll keep on walking and trying to find our way out of this place, okay? Carina wouldn’t want us to just sit around waiting to be rescued, would she?”
Darius said, “No, I don’t think so. But what if she doesn’t Cast Send? What do we do then?”
“Carina would never abandon us, Darius. I mean, she wouldn’t forget about us if she knew we needed her.”
The little boy nodded. “When the bad men took me, she came and found me.”
“That’s right. She’ll find us too, but it might take a while. So let’s see how brave we can be and find out all the things we can do without her help.” Her skirt caught on a thorn and ripped. “Oh, wait a minute.” As she carefully pulled the cloth away the back of her hand brushed another thorn, receiving a scratch. “Ow!” Parthenia sucked on the drops of blood oozing from the wound.
“Does it hurt?” Darius asked, standing on his tiptoes to try to see her hand. “I could Cast Heal. Oh no, I can’t. Are you sure you don’t know how to make elixir?”
“I do know. I just don’t know how to make it out here. I don’t know how to start a fire, for one thing.”
Darius came down from his tiptoes and hung his head. “I miss Carina.”
“I do too.” Parthenia took her brother’s hand again and they continued walking. The barely visible thread of worn ground wound through the undergrowth. Sunlight slanted through the tree branches. Parthenia guessed it would be several hours before the sun set. She hoped Carina would find them before then. She didn’t want to spend the night alone in the forest. They hadn’t seen or heard anything except bugs and some kind of arboreal creature that had swung away as they approached, and then climbed high and flew. Maybe animals that preyed on humans lived there.
It had been hours since they’d arrived in the forest, and they’d been walking ever since. Parthenia’s legs were aching. Darius was probably even more tired, though he hadn’t mentioned anything except his empty stomach. Deciding it was time to call a halt and let her brother rest, she said, “Hey, let’s stop for a while. Let’s find somewhere to sit down.” She led Darius off the track and over to a gap between two tall trees where nothing else grew. She sat him down on a root that protruded from the ground.
“I’m thirsty, Parthenia.” Darius squashed his little body into the scant remaining space on the root.
She sighed. “Me too.” If only Carina would Send soon. Perhaps she might even Transport herself there and then take them both to a safe place. Her talk about showing her sister how brave they could be had been just that—talk. She didn’t feel at all brave. She’d begun to realize how ill-prepared they were to live an ordinary life in the real world.
As she’d been growing up, Parthenia had gradually come to understand that she led an unusual life. It was only through reading boo
ks and during brief visits to the local town and even briefer visits to the capital that she’d realized other people didn’t live in large estates and have everything they needed given to them. Although her father had been very controlling and had treated her mother worse than an animal, Parthenia had never been hungry or deprived of material things. She’d slept in a comfortable bed every night and the only work she’d had to do was schoolwork, making elixir, and Casting.
If she was ever sick a splicer would come to the house to treat her, and she’d always worn expensive dresses and had all the toys, paints, interfaces, and other playthings she wanted. She’d even had her own pet. Thinking back to the tarsul she’d left behind on Ithiya, Parthenia suddenly felt so sad she wanted to cry. But she didn’t want to upset Darius with her tears so she swallowed and bit her lip.
“What’s wrong?” her brother asked. He climbed into her lap, though he barely fit there anymore.
“Nothing. I’m all right,” Parthenia replied.
Darius wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder. “No, you aren’t.”
There had never been much point in trying to hide emotions from Darius, Parthenia reflected. He always knew what you were feeling, whether you admitted it or not.
Now that they’d stopped walking for a while, Parthenia was growing cold. They were wearing the thin clothes they’d worn aboard the battleship, and they’d left the shuttle so quickly Parthenia hadn’t even thought to grab the emergency blankets they’d been using to stay warm on the chilly ship.
“It’s time we started walking again,” Parthenia said. “Have you rested enough?”
“I guess so,” Darius replied, though Parthenia heard the tiredness in his voice. “But where are we going? Are we nearly there?”
“I was hoping we might find a way out of these woods,” said Parthenia. “If we can find a house or a small town, maybe someone will give us some money for my bracelet.” She hadn’t thought of the idea until she said it. She’d only been intending to make something up to distract Darius from his hunger and thirst for a while. But it was actually a good plan.
